Daily Schedule for the Quarter
The second section will provide the detailed schedule for each
day’s class. In order to incorporate the major writing
assignments into the Stanford ten-week quarter, you might want
to design the term schedule in terms of units for each assignment.
Doing so will allow you to fit the assignment sequence into a
manageable timeline. You can begin to flesh out your syllabus
by taking the first assignment sheet you have designed and selecting
its final due date. Then work backwards and fill in how you will
get the students to that final due date. You can begin this exercise
in working backwards by asking a few key questions:
- What preliminary exercises and discussions will prepare students
for completing this particular assignment?
- What readings and other exercises will help students carry
out the assignment?
- What features of the assignment would be best discussed with
the whole class? (Here you will want to provide examples or
models for students to use.)
- What special skills will be required for the completion of
the assignment, and can you provide a handout to help students
understand or practice these skills?
- Where in the assignment process will a conference with me
be most helpful?
After answering the questions above, begin penciling in class
exercises, readings, and other activities for the weeks or days
leading up to the final due date. As you work, make sure that
you provide a title for each of the major assignments (Rhetorical
Analysis Assignment, Contextual Analysis Assignment, etc.) and
use it consistently on all handouts. Similarly, make sure that
you develop a set of terms that you can use consistently to refer
to each of the exercises that lead up to the major assignments.
Terms such as Pre-draft for Rhetorical Analysis and Draft of
Rhetorical Analysis work particularly well. You might also use
a numbering system for assignments and class exercises: for example
1.1 Pre-draft for Rhetorical Analysis; 1.2 Exercise on Key Terms;
1.3 Draft of Rhetorical Analysis; 1.4 Exercise on Citations.
When finalizing the Daily Schedule for your syllabus, you can
use the checklist below to incorporate all necessary elements:
- Reading assignments
- Dates of University holidays
- Dates assignment sheets are handed out
- Dates drafts are due
- Dates final assignments are due, in bold (a minimum of four
for PWR 1 and PWR 2)
- Class activities for each day, including writing exercises,
peer review workshops, mid-term and final class evaluations
- At least one scheduled library workshop in PWR 1 and PWR
2; you should also include in your schedule directions for
when and how students should complete the new Library Research
Tutorial called SKIL (Stanford’s Key to Information Literacy).
- Weeks when you plan to schedule conferences (students are
required to have a minimum of three conferences with you).
